


[b a t t l e g r o u n d]

by deviont



Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Abuse, Angst, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, basically an au where they meet earlier and also everyones nicer, bud deans still a dick too, except kurt and ram theyre still dicks so sorry if u like them, hes obv abusive but we also dont see a lot of him so, hshf my tags are a mess but i promise the fic is probably hopefully decent so!!, idk what im doin but this ship is so important to me, ive never written anything for heathers ever so theyll prolly be ooc? sorry, probably at some point?? idk, uh i took some liberties with exactly how shitty bud dean is to jd bc like
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 05:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deviont/pseuds/deviont
Summary: JD is a child of war, scarred and broken and fighting, always fighting. He’s been fighting so long he doesn’t remember how to not fight.Veronica is just trying to survive high school, but she wants to help this tired boy lay his weapons down. She wants to remind him life isn’t a war that needs to be won.





	[b a t t l e g r o u n d]

**Author's Note:**

> so i dont know what im doing?? but i love heathers and i love jd and i will forever believe he deserved better, that if hed gotten help things couldve been different. so this entire fic is basically one big comfort fic for me. idk where im going with it or if people will like it but uh yeah. well see how this goes i guess

Veronica watched the boy in the corner intently while also trying to look like she wasn’t staring. He was new, which was unusual in and of itself because new students at the high school were always freshman. There wasn’t exactly an influx of people moving to Sherwood Ohio a couple days into their sophomore year of high school. The new kid’s appearance certainly helped draw attention to him as well. Tattered jeans and a tshirt, nothing unusual there, and an old black trench coat flowing down to his ankles. The trench coat was what drew most people’s eyes, but Veronica was looking at the boy’s tired brown eyes, the deep, almost bruise like bags beneath those eyes, and the absolutely adorable smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose.

Veronica jumped at the feeling of an elbow roughly meeting her ribs, snapping her gaze from the boy seated in the corner of the cafeteria to the girl sitting next to her. Heather Chandler was beautiful, just as beautiful as the boy Veronica had just been eyeing, but her beauty was different. The new kid was mysterious frayed edges, but Chandler held sharp, pointed beauty. She wielded it like a weapon, regal in every sense of the word.

“God, Veronica, drool much?” Chandler sounded absolutely disgusted, though Veronica wasn’t sure if it was directed at the new kid or at Veronica’s obvious interest in the new kid. Not that she cared either way. Veronica had established her stance in the Heathers hierarchy from the very beginning. She refused to be mean spirited, and she refused to hold herself back from her less popular friends because they would ‘tarnish her reputation’. Veronica gained the Heathers’ interest with her forgery skills, and had since been their supplier of hall passes, absence notes, and the occasional excused from PE note, but she stood her ground on matters that were important. Ever since she had chewed Chandler out for trying to convince Veronica to write Martha a note with Ram Sweeney’s handwriting, their relationship had been clear. Veronica was with the popular kids, but she also still sat with Martha and had movie nights, balancing that with the occasional party with the Heathers and other popular kids. Veronica was with the Heathers, but she refused to be considered lesser in their group, demanded that all of them stand on equal footing and maybe even try to be a little nicer.

Either Chandler respected Veronica’s balls and steadfastness or she really wanted Veronica’s forgery skill on hand, because here they were a year and a half later and they had shifted more from allies in the war that was high school to something resembling friends. Chandler had even let Martha sit with them at lunch a few times.

Veronica playfully shoved Chandler back, replying, “Yeah, well, you know I’m all for the tall, dark, and brooding type.” Chandler rolled her eyes at Veronica, though a smile was on her face as she went to work touching up her makeup.

“No one’s even heard him speak ever since he started,” McNamara whispered, leaning forward conspiratorially. “I heard he got kicked out of his last school for disciplinary issues.”

Duke scoffed, eyes not even lifting from her book as she responded, “Yeah right, Mac, no one even knows his name, let alone anything else.”

Veronica turned to Duke at that, a shocked expression pulling at her gentle features. “Haven’t people asked him anything yet?”

“Would you? Look at that trench coat, he looks like he’s hiding a gun,” Duke shot back, an eyebrow raised. Veronica shifted her gaze back to the boy in the corner. His head was resting on crossed arms and he didn’t have any food with him. He was just observing everyone in the cafeteria with a sort of disinterest that didn’t match his intense eyes. Veronica couldn’t help but be drawn to him and was about to walk over to him when Kurt and Ram beat her to it.

“Uh oh, Ronnie, looks like the boys are starting their new kid initiation on your boy.” Chandler reapplied her lipstick with a flick of the wrist before putting her supplies away to watch the show. Veronica felt her gut clench. She hated this, but knew her small power over the Heathers didn’t transfer to Kurt and Ram. She just hoped the kid wouldn’t get beat up too badly.

“So, princess, what’d your boyfriend say when you told him you were moving to Sherwood Ohio?” Kurt sneered, leaning in threateningly. The new kid barely spared them a glance.

Ram went to the kid’s other side, placing an arm around the kid’s shoulders. Veronica saw the boy tense, but he otherwise didn’t react. “My buddy Kurt here just asked you a question.”

Kurt smirked over at Ram, the expression promising the new kid nothing but pain. “Hey, don’t they have a ‘no fags allowed’ rule here?” The new kid finally looked up at that, his expression as casual as if they were discussing the weather. It sent shivers down Veronica’s spine. It was almost as if the kid were dead.

“They seem to have an open door policy on assholes.” Contrasting his dead eyes was a small smirk, and Veronica had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. By this point most of the cafeteria had noticed what was going on and was watching. They could all tell from the deadly look Kurt and Ram shared that something was about to go down.

“Hold his arms,” Kurt seethed. Ram went to subdue the boy, but no one was prepared for the way the kid shot up like a bullet, slamming a book hard into Ram’s chin. Ram stumbled backwards and Kurt, after a moment, rushed forward with a fist ready to punch. The new kid whirled on him and smashed his book into Kurt’s nose then quickly turned around to kick Ram, who was slowly rising to his feet, in the teeth, sending him sprawling on his back.

“Holy shit!” Duke whispered, lowering her book to watch the fight. Several students around the cafeteria repeated the words, everyone watching in utter shock as the kid landed a few more hits on both the boys before a teacher finally came and pulled the new kid away. Veronica watched as he was dragged in the direction of the principal’s office, leaving Kurt and Ram to go off somewhere to nurse their wounded egos.

“See?” McNamara said, delicately eating a chip. “Disciplinary issues, I told you.”

Veronica pried her eyes away from the door the kid had been pulled through to look at the blonde seated next to her. “Oh, come on, Mac, getting into a fight with two assholes that were asking for it is hardly ‘disciplinary issues’.”

Chandler chuckled. “Oh, whatever Veronica, you’re only saying that ‘cause you think he’s hot.” Veronica shrugged shamelessly, continuing eating her lunch but every now and then glancing up at the corner the new kid had occupied. She wouldn’t deny watching him take Kurt and Ram down a couple pegs was pretty hot, but there was something else about him that drew Veronica to him. She was going to know that kid’s name by the end of the week.

♛

Jason Dean was sick of first days of high school. He’d gone through it ten times before already, and he knew the eleventh wouldn’t be any different. Rumors had somehow spread about him getting kicked out of his previous school for disciplinary issues, and that was fine by him. Everyone avoided him and Jason was able to float through the day like a ghost, unseen and unheard and, most importantly, unbothered. Completely ignored until, for some reason, lunch came around.

Jason sat himself in a table as far away from everyone as he could get, crammed into the corner seat with a book in front of him. He thought he’d made it abundantly clear that he did not want to be bothered. He apparently hadn’t done a good enough job, because about halfway through lunch he was approached by two jocks. Jason sighed, knowing the brief reprieve the rumors had granted him was now over. He kept his head buried in his arms, giving the two boys a quick glance. They were big, much bigger than Jason, but he was also pretty sure they thrived off of picking on people who couldn’t fight back. Jason had made himself capable of fighting back the moment he got into middle school. He could take these kids, easy, if it came to blows.

Jason was originally determined to make sure it didn’t come to blows, but the boys were persistent. The typical gay joke, throwing arms around his shoulders and Jason hoped no one saw the suppressed flinch at that. Feeling his paper thin patience snap, Jason fired off a quip and hoped they’d be shocked enough to leave him alone. No such luck.

“Hold his arms.”

His arms pinned above his head as a knee rammed repeatedly into his gut. Bruises on his wrists for weeks afterwards.

Jason saw red.

The next thing he was aware of was a hand at his elbow, dragging him out of the cafeteria. He looked back and saw the two boys on the floor, blood gushing from one of their noses. He smirked, satisfaction bubbling in his gut before he remembered the warning he was given this morning. No fights on the first day. The last thing he saw before the doors shut behind him was a girl with wild brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. She looked awestruck. She looked amazed. Jason wondered who had done what to make a girl like that look at them so starstruck. Jason nearly choked on his own spit when he realized that girl, that beautiful, wild girl was looking at him.

If it got him looked at like that, Jason decided the fight was worth it.

And later that night, when he was curled up on his bed with his arms wrapped protectively around his chest, he remembered that look, pretended that he hadn’t noticed she was with the popular girls. Pretended that he actually had a chance of making her look at him like that again.

The next day, Jason left early for school, out the door before his father woke up. He’d be hungover and angry, and Jason didn’t want to deal with it. He already had angry purple bruises scattered across his chest and stomach, he didn’t think he could handle dragging himself to school if his old man hit one of them again.

Throughout the day, Jason busied himself watching for those wild brown curls. He’d sometimes catch a glimpse of the girl walking through the hallway, and even noticed he had a couple classes with her. Observing her was strange, because it was obvious she was rather high up in the chain of popularity at this school, but she also sat with the nobodies. She was nice. She had a loud laugh and some would find it unattractive but the sound of it filled Jason’s chest with warmth. She wasn’t the typical bitchy popular girl, and even seemed to have a positive influence on her more popular friends, the Heathers. A couple times the girl had caught him glancing and smiled at him. The smile was so genuine and kind that Jason couldn’t help but return it, though he was sure his paled in comparison to hers.

At lunch, Jason once again planted himself in the corner seat of the corner table, away from everyone. He saw the two jocks from yesterday shooting him death glares and tensed, knowing if he had to fight again today, he’d lose. Even now there was a dull, pulsing ache centering around his chest and he prepared himself to get up when the jocks’ attention was diverted. Jason turned to see what they were now gaping at when a flurry of movement settled itself in front of him. He was about to make a snide comment, or just get up and leave, when he saw who was actually in front of him and had to stop himself from gaping too.

The girl he’d been trading smiles with all day, the girl who had looked at him yesterday like he was incredible, like he was something she’d never seen before and wanted to see more of, was seated across from him, that same smile on her face. This close, Jason could see the faintest hint of freckles scattered across her cheeks. He could see the flecks of brown in her otherwise brilliantly blue eyes. He could see how accurate he’d been when he called her beautiful. He couldn’t see why she’d ever decide to sit with him when she had so many friends, both popular and not so popular.

“Hey,” she said, the smile never leaving her face.

“Hey,” Jason responded easily, as if he were used to beautiful girls approaching him and talking to him.

“So, Mr. No Name Kid, who are you?” the girl questioned, popping a fry into her mouth. “That thing you pulled in the cafe yesterday was pretty severe.” A sour taste rose in Jason’s mouth as he remembered what had happened after, but he kept his expression carefully neutral.

“Well, the severe always seems to make an impression.” Jason responded. “The more interesting question is who are you? Big girl on campus, but you actually have a clean soul.”

The girl laughed, and Jason couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face if he wanted to. “Yeah, well, like you proved yesterday. Their one weakness is people actually standing up to them. I let them know early on I wouldn’t play their games.”

Jason rested a cheek on his fist, still smiling at the girl. There was the slightest dusting of pink across her cheeks, as if she weren’t used to receiving attention, as if most of the kids in the school didn’t watch her like Jason was now. “And what’s the name of the girl who fought back against high school tyranny?”

She laughed again, this time covering her mouth. The world around Jason seemed to dim at the loss of her smile. “Veronica. Veronica Sawyer.” _Veronica_. Jason liked the sound of it. The name suited her, just as big as the girl herself. “And what about you?” she asked, leaning forward. “You ever gonna tell me your name?”

Jason thought about all the high schools he’d been to before. He thought about lonely nights spent in 7/11, icy tendrils wrapping around his brain until they extended to his heart, numbing him from the inside out. He thought about the last time he’d had anything vaguely resembling a friend, in a dumpy high school in Texas. He thought about watching a library crumble and break apart and how he’d crumbled and broken apart with that library. He thought about the bruises on his chest and the scars along his wrists, how his own father was equally responsible for both even if he’d never taken the blade to Jason’s skin.

Jason thought about how goddamn tired he was of being alone. He thought about how pretty Veronica’s eyes were, deep blue seas he could fall into. “I’ll end the suspense,” he said while grabbing her hand and gently pressing his lips to her knuckles, relishing in the red that flushed across her cheeks. “Jason Dean. JD for short.”


End file.
